Considered, by many, one of the biggest names in the history of Brazilian MMA, Lyoto Machida He is fulfilled with his career. In an exclusive interview with SUPER LUTAS channel on YouTube, the 'Dragon' says he is driven by challenges and states that he can still fight for two or three years in his career before retiring. Furthermore, he reveals that he wants to face the Gegard Mousasi in a trilogy valid for the middleweight belt (up to 83,9kg.).
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Machida's moment, however, is not good. The Brazilian has a negative record of three consecutive defeats, the last being in the rematch against Ryan bader, valid for the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix light heavyweights (up to 93kg.). In fact, after the fight, Lyoto announced that he will return to middleweight (up to 83,9kg), he explained the decision, but does not rule out a return to the division commanded by Vadim nemkov in the future.
“Bellator works differently than the UFC. He makes different proposals, invites you to move up and gives you interesting opportunities in the upper category. So, I can't say that this change is definitive. I'm the type of fighter who, when I see a challenge ahead, counts a lot more. All of this counts for me. I would like my next fight to be against the Gegard Mousasi. The first fight, I won and in the rematch he beat me in a split decision”, said Machida.
POSSIBLE RETIREMENT
At 43 years old, Lyoto says he maintains high intensity training and still wants to be at a high level for another two or three years. The 'Dragon', however, only has one fight under contract with Bellator and claims he doesn't know what could happen in his future.
“I can speak for the moment first. I train every day. The fight ended, I spent a week (recovering) and I started training again. I like testing new things, always testing different situations. I believe that for another two or three years I can maintain myself at this level. But it's difficult to say if I'm going to keep fighting. I don't know what it will be like from now on. I prefer to wait and live what I am living today. From now on, we never know what could happen”, revealed the 'Dragon'.
BELLATOR X UFC
Lyoto Machida he also made a point of valuing Bellator's great assets and compared them to Ultimate athletes. According to the Brazilian, some of the main names in his current organization would face any fighter from the competitor. Even so, 'Dragon' considers the merger between the two companies for super fights to be very difficult.
“UFC dominates most of the market. So, it is not in the interest of a larger company to put athletes 'at risk'. To show that Bellator has value and other events also have values. Patrick Pitbull, Chris Cyborg and Ju (Velasquez) herself, who is a champion, are athletes who go head to head with any athlete from the other organization. But often, it won't happen. Unless a merger like boxing happens. In a way that the event has already lost strength and the merger happens naturally”, he concluded.
Lyoto Machida accumulates a record of 26 positive results and 11 negative results. Former UFC light heavyweight champion (up to 93kg), 'Dragon' has notable victories over athletes such as Tito Ortiz, B.J. Penn, Rashad evans, Mauritius Shogun, Vitor belfort, Dan Henderson and Randy Couture.
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